Summary Application – Mindfulness
Diana Deaver
FW 311
Northern Arizona University
Mindfulness was my second transformational practice for this course, and I probably couldn’t over-state how positive of an impact it has had on my life. Out of all the transformational practices that we covered, mindfulness has been the one that has resonated with me the most. In addition to the positive impact that it has had on my life as a practice standing on it’s own, I feel that it has helped maximize the benefits of the other practices when they are practiced in conjunction with mindfulness.
From practicing mindfulness I have learned how to observe my own thoughts from a more rational and non-judgmental standpoint. I have also learned how to observe life with a less reactionary attitude, which has allowed me to respond in to things in a much calmer way when I do decide to react. Overall, this has helped me feel that I am closing the gap between who I am and who I want to be.
The hardest part about the practice (for me) has simply been in remembering to do it daily. Through the second half of the course I have been attempting to spend 10 minutes practicing (silent) mindfulness both first thing in the morning and then once again in the evening. I find myself anticipating these 10 minute sessions so much that I don’t often forget to do them, but on a few occasions I caught myself feeling so relaxed and enthused with what I was doing that I just forgot to stop for those 10 minutes to sit down and quiet my mind. (I really believe that this “relaxed enthusiasm” is a result OF my mindfulness practice, because it’s not the most common state for me! Without this practice I have a tendency to fall back to a medium-high base level anxiety.)
This calm and rational/observational state has changed my life in so many ways. As I already mentioned, I feel that I am beginning to exist more consistently as the person that I would like to be, and this has had a significant impact on my satisfaction with both myself and my life in general. When there is a discrepancy between those things, it is easy to feel discouraged or depressed. Reducing depression, anxiety and discouragement are major accomplishments!
The personal applications of mindfulness have been many so far, but most noticeably, I have felt its effect in reducing anxiety and depression. A great example would be flying. I have always been rather nervous about flying, but I was able to use mindfulness this weekend to greatly reduce that anxiety through the entire day leading up to a flight I was taking, as well as on the flight itself. A second application has been in dealing with difficult relationships in my life. Certain people are always more difficult to deal with than others, and as I have practiced mindfulness I realized I’ve been able to take a step back from these relationships and then re-approach the situation as a more steady and mature person. This has been beneficial to both of us!
I feel that the professional applications are just as unlimited as the personal! As someone hoping to go into the field of mental healthcare, I feel that mindfulness will be an incredible tool that I can offer to clients dealing with depression and anxiety – both at the extreme and clinical level as well as those who feel generally content with their lives but still wish to develop tools they can use to enhance or fall back on in cases of emergency.
Mindfulness has been such a wonderful tool for me – there are endless ways it can be practiced, it requires no financial and minimal time investment, and the benefits I have noticed in the first month alone have been so far beyond anything I expected. I really hope all of you taking this course have a chance to experience the positive impact it can have!
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